Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday the government will have to work harder to win public support for a plan to burn plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel in Japan's nuclear plants, following the rejection in a plebiscite Sunday of the use of MOX fuel in Kariwa, Niigata Prefecture.

"Both the state and the operators need to make further efforts in seeking people's understanding on nuclear energy," Koizumi told the Lower House Budget Committee.

Katsusada Hirose, vice minister of economy, trade and industry, said later the government will put together a high-ranking team to consider how to win public support for its MOX fuel program.